Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Bakho 03-20-07, 09:29 AM	If a shifter and a human had a child, what would he/she be? A shifter or a human? The reason why I'm asking is because one of the NPCs in the campaign I'm DMing had a romantic history with a female human, and I'm planning to introduce their child to the campaign.
CzarGarrett 03-20-07, 01:51 PM	I'd say 50-50 chance of being either.
MDosantos 03-20-07, 09:32 PM	It all depends on you... It could be 50-50 like CzarGarrett pointed out, maybe a human with some feral appearance, or you could go all along with a new race... (no score penalties, pluses to balance or climb... some minor shifting??)... Just my :twocents:
Defender_X 03-21-07, 08:39 AM	I have to agree with the 50-50 rule. The child is or isn't. flip a coin and deceide which heritage is dominate,
Zombomaniac 03-21-07, 09:19 AM	Wouldn't it be more like a Half-breed. Part Human part Shifter, not one or the other?:confused: Or is there something in the books that I just haven't seen?:confused:
Nundahl 03-21-07, 10:16 AM	Well, I'd say it's a 50-50 as mentioned before me, but play it as whatever works best for your game. I know for my game I'd probably make it a human child, but with slightly feral features ... low charisma perhaps, not as a "racial" penalty but just as a fluff reason to justify the lowest (or just a low) score being placed in Charisma (this assuming you're statting it out later in life, I see no need to ever stat a baby humanoid). It would be a half-breed, but for all rules sake it would be human. Now, if you on the other hand want to make it racially a half-breed, go for it. But I'd advise against it, seems there'd be a subrace for it if there could be already, and then that just gets annoying ... why aren't there "Half-Changlings" (barring that there isn't such a race I'm unaware of) or "Half-Dwarf", "Half-Gnome", "Half ... ling" .... *ahem*. I'm glad to see I'm not alone where Keith Baker stands on the subrace issue, I've heard it misquoted that he really dislikes subraces, I don't look at it this way, but that he puts more emphasis not on genetics, but on upbringing. Nature vs. Nurture, but that's an argument I'm happy to state my opinion on and not get into a lengthy discussion about in an inappropriate forum, hehe. -Nundahl
Cambian00 03-21-07, 10:36 AM	According to the ECS, Shifter is a race that breeds true. This means that you are either a Shifter or not a Shifter - no halfbreeds. So do it this way: the child will take the race of the parent of the same gender. IE shifter father/human mother then if child is male make it shifter or if child is female make it human. Of course, for fluff reasons, you could also have the child "superficially" have some of the characteristics of the other parent, such as a little more hair for the human version of the child or a little less hair for the shifter version.....nothing that would affect game mechanics, though...
Bakho 03-21-07, 10:52 AM	Thanks for all of the great advice. I decided to make the child human, with slightly feral features (which will be emulated stat-wise).
Salla 03-22-07, 01:57 PM	I, personally, would rule that the two races are not genetically compatible and cannot produce offspring of any type. (Of course, in many homebrews I've outlawed half-elves and half-orcs because I also think they should be genetically incompatible, but I digress.) I might steal this idea for my created-but-unplayed character, though ... I went Human 'cause I needed the feats, but I really prefer to play characters that aren't simply for the aesthetics.
jonci 03-22-07, 03:35 PM	I think it would unusual for Shifters and humans to be incompatiable when Shifters descend from humans. They may be a true race now, but they are still, in a small part, human. I'd go with the 50/50. I believe that's how it works with Changlings, and they share a similar history of creation.
FreAkOuTRG 03-22-07, 03:55 PM	I've heard that you use the mothers race for this.
Elemental_Elf 03-22-07, 03:56 PM	I'd use the same rules for a Shifter-Human child as I would for a Half-Elf - Human child. If a Half-Elf and a Human breed its 50/50, thus the rule should be the same for Shifters. But at the same time Half-Elves are that way because the Elven blood is so strong, who knows if Shifter blood is as strong. So either a 50/50 shot or they produce a Human with the Lycanthrope Bloodline or maybe just a normal human.
ArcTan 03-24-07, 03:04 AM	Wouldn't it be more like a Half-breed. Part Human part Shifter, not one or the other?:confused: Or is there something in the books that I just haven't seen?:confused: There are no rules for such a thing. You could make some up, but in general when there aren't rules for a hybrid creature, the assumption is that one or the other parent's genetics predominate. Humans and half-elves have a chance to produce either human or half-elven progeny (IIRC) -- there's no such thing as a "quarter-elf". Changelings and humans explicitly have about an equal chance of producing either -- something that poses huge problems for changelings attempting to pass as human. Kalashtar and humans produce either a kalashtar or a human baby based on the gender of the child. Shifters can probably work a similar way. *Or* you can just rule that shifters and humans aren't cross-fertile at all and can't interbreed. This makes the legend about shifters being the progeny of humans and lycanthropes a bit less likely, but not impossible.
ArcTan 03-24-07, 03:06 AM	I think it would unusual for Shifters and humans to be incompatiable when Shifters descend from humans. They may be a true race now, but they are still, in a small part, human. We don't know that they do descend from humans. Some shifters claim that shifters were always their own race, and that lycanthropes existed because of humans' attempt to steal shifters' powers, which turned against their human thieves.